Washington Post: Ratcliffe secretly visited Moscow to warn Russia not to exploit perceived U.S. weakness from the Iran war, saying escalation in Ukraine would push Trump toward Zelensky

CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled secretly to Moscow on August 25, the first visit by a sitting U.S. intelligence chief to Russia since the full-scale invasion began, arriving unannounced aboard a U.S. military transport plane while the Kremlin publicly denied any meetings were planned that week.

Days later, no one has confirmed Ratcliffe met with Putin himself. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called it communication through intelligence channels, while SVR chief Sergei Naryshkin confirmed a meeting occurred and insisted there was nothing unusual about it.

President Trump separately described the trip as routine. Despite the parade of officials calling it unremarkable, neither government has said what was actually discussed.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.